Glow
by ShortGirlWithAPen
Summary: Marlene has secrets of her own, which Skipper gets her to tell him about. Skilene. Requested by catty-cat-cat.


**Disclaimer- I don't own Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters!**

**Pairing- Skilene**

**A/N: This story was requested by catty-cat-cat. I hope you like it and sorry it's late! The song called Glow by Nano was requested to go along with the story, and it inspired several parts of the story.**

* * *

Skipper had wanted to tell Marlene how he felt about her, but that was one of the few things he just wasn't good at, and he doubted he would ever be good at it at all.

Every time he decided to admit it, something would come up and he just couldn't.

This went on until one night when he was stuck in Marlene's habitat while there was a thunderstorm going on. She hadn't left his side during the time the storm was going on, which made Skipper smile almost involuntarily.

"What are you smiling at?" Marlene asks after a while.

"You." Skipper says, giving a moment's hesitation.

"I'm sorry."

"No. It's okay. Really. You kind of remind me of Private and Rico combined when you do that."

"And that's a good thing?"

Skipper laughs at the surprise in her voice. "Very."

Now it's Marlene's turn to smile. She loved hearing his laugh, even though she didn't get to hear it very often.

"You care about them."

"Well, yeah. They're.. innocent. Caring. Complete opposites of me. The penguin world needs ones like them."

"You are caring, though."

"About those close to me. That would be you, Rico, Private, and Kowalski. But others.. it's harder." There's a short silence as another clap of thunder sounds and Marlene huddles closer to Skipper. "Are you okay?"

"I hate thunderstorms."

Skipper hated to hear the amount of fear in Marlene's voice. She always seemed so brave, as if she wasn't scared of anything. That wouldn't be possible, though, because everyone's scared of something.

Skipper takes Marlene's paw in his flipper and leads her deeper into the cave part of her habitat.

Once they're as far back as possible, Marlene looks at Skipper and asks, "What are you doing?"

"You never admit your fears, do you?"

"No. You don't either, to be fair."

"Hey, penguin law says to always comfort those who are scared or in need of comforting, and you're one of the two now. Maybe both."

Marlene nods slightly and finally lets Skipper comfort her properly.

"Now, do you want to tell me what's wrong?" Skipper asks after a while.

"They just scare me, Skipper. It's not that big of a deal." Marlene answers.

"For some reason, I highly doubt that."

Marlene looks at Skipper, wondering how he could read animals like he does. It's more than likely a leadership quality.

"You remember that when I came here, it was sleeting. You just wrote it off as typical New York winter weather. In fact, you seemed to almost enjoy it." Marlene starts. She can't help but notice how Skipper just listens to her, his eyes never leaving hers. "I had never felt anything so cold. I mean, yeah, the rain in Florida could be cold, but never that could. The zoo I was originally in got shut down because there were several thing that apparently couldn't be fixed in time, so everyone had to be moved away." Marlene pauses slightly, trapped in what she remembers.

"Marlene, are you okay?" Skipper asks.

"I'm fine, Skipper." He nods and lets her continue. "You saw how Zeke and I were. We both know that he was lucky to have made it that long. The sleet kept hitting us at first, making our fur uneven, and a while after it had died down, Zeke himself died. You know how long it took just for you to convince me to talk much around you. Then, I just wanted to be left alone for a while. Why you made me talk so much, I don't know."

"It's because I love you, Marlene. Same then, same now." She stares at him, surprised at what he had just said. Of course, she loved him too, but that it was the same way for him shocked her. "Sorry. I didn't mean to.."

"No, it's okay. Just surprised me. How long?"

"About a week after you came. I couldn't stop watching you, and over the years, I fell more and more in love with you."

"I fell for you, too, Skipper."

"Why didn't we admit it?"

"I don't know."

* * *

Skipper wakes up earlier than Marlene, but mostly because he's more used to early mornings than she is. Marlene's huddled up next to him with her head under his beak.

He doesn't know how long he stays like that until Marlene wakes up.

"You're still here?" she mumbles.

"Yeah. Do you want me to go back to my habitat?"

"No. I mean, you can if you want; I don't control you." Skipper smiles at her. "But can this you stay for a while?"

"This me?"

"Romantic you. It's cute."

"I'll try."

"Okay. But one question: are we like together or something?"

"I don't know. Do you think we are?"

"Maybe."

"I guess we are, then. You know more about this stuff than I do."

* * *

That day was one of the longest days ever to Skipper as he goes through the daily warm-ups and waits for most of the people to leave from visiting the penguin and lemur area so he could go over to Marlene's habitat.

They were still working out a way to tell Kowalski, Rico, and Private that they had started dating. It had to be at the right moment, though, or else it wouldn't work at all.

"Skippah? Why are you smiling so much?" Private asks.

"You'll find out tonight." Skipper answers.

When Skipper and Marlene finally did tell them, the one that expected it the most was Kowalski. The reasoning behind this?

Two animals that talked as much as they did with a certain glow on their faces were bound to start dating at some point.

The End


End file.
